Nearly 15 years after the original release and a HD Collection later, Konami released Zone Of The Enders: The 2nd Runner – M∀RS! This edition not only includes upgraded visuals, but also VR support to bring you closer to the action than ever before.

I unfortunately did not play the original and Zone of the Enders is one of those game series where the plot can be a little over the top, but to the best of my ability, Zone Of The Enders: The 2nd Runner – M∀RS involves you saving planet Mars from complete and utter destruction.

Dingo Egret, an ice miner working on Jupiter's moon Callisto, gets a strong Metatron reading near the surface. It turns out to be a dormant humanoid weapon—the giant Orbital Frame, Jehuty. Moments later, the mining operation is attacked by Bahram. As if guided to the frame by fate, Dingo enters Jehuty's cockpit to survive the onslaught. His ensuing screams activate the frame's combat AI system, A.D.A., which in turn begins to fully awaken Jehuty.

While the hardcore are surely able to keep up with the lore, the main draw for me of a game like this will definitely be the gameplay as you zip around these levels, taking care of enemies in high speed battles.

Progression is pretty straight forward and you will not only gain more abilities as the game goes on, but at the same time have a better grasp on how to defeat certain enemies. There is quite the variety of them and each class serve their purpose on the battlefield.

With this game I think one of its biggest challenges is trying to make missions interesting by trying to make them as varied as possible. While there is some success here in some instances such as looking for the correct container an ally is hiding in or saving as many troops on the battlefield, the rest is just really slash, slash, slash. It looks so cool I don't really mind, however if there is ever another game in the series, this is something they should address. If they are able to balance this with the high speed movement, then we have a clear winner here.

One area of the game that didn't seem to come over well are the 2D cutscenes. They heavily remind me of that old school anime look and seeing as there probably wasn't a HD version of them, they come across stretched on the screen which in turn makes it blurry.

Its such a shame as they are really well made, however in this instance there probably was not much they can do unless they were willing to have them completely re done.

If there is one area of the game I would have liked to give a go it is the VR portion. It would have been an interesting experience, but unfortunately I don't have access to a PlayStation VR unit in order to really give it a run.

Zone Of The Enders: The 2nd Runner – M∀RS has been able to make you feel like a complete beast controlling a mech; something that other games in its genre has failed to do. Being able to zip around the screen and fight in these battles is exhilarating.

Yes it would have been great to have a little more variety with the missions and the cutscenes may have hurt my eyes, but the gameplay is still solid after all this time and it seems to me that we are all well overdue a new entry into the series.

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